1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a miniature light-weight removable disk cartridge containing a disk with a large memory capacity.
2. Description of Related Art
Removable disk cartridges of this sort have been disclosed in, for example, 1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,503, 2 U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,918, 3 U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,403, 4 U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,464, 5 U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,141, and 6 U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,586 as related conventional art.
In the above-mentioned conventional examples 1 to 5, every cartridges have a structure which is formed of approximately square in the plan view and have an arrow indication for indicating the attaching direction on the upper surface thereof, and have an attaching guide groove along the attaching direction partially on the surface or back surface. In these conventional examples, the side that is indicated by the arrow is opened entirely, a door which opens outside is attached on the side with interposition of a door attaching mechanism so that an actuator is allowed to come in and go out through the opened side, a mechanism for moving the door is provided at the position near the door, the door attaching mechanism is provided with two pins disposed with a vertical predetermined interval, and the one pin has a finger mechanism.
In the above-mentioned conventional example 6, a cartridge has a structure which formed approximately square in the plan view and has a door which is opened and closed rotationally provided in the cartridge and which is supported rotationally by a spacer secured by a vis screwed from the front side in the inside of the front side of the cartridge. Though no indication of the attaching direction is indicated, a half opening is provided on one side, a circular arc door is provided along the corner in the inside of the opening, and the side is identified as the end.
Further, in the conventional example, the periphery is formed high with a step excepting the side face where the door is attached on the back side of the cartridge. One reason of the step is that the projected portion to the back side formed of high is served as a guide for preventing erroneous attaching and another reason of the step is that a cartridge screw for moving a disk vertically engaged with the central portion of the base plate of the cartridge in order to connect a disk provided in the cartridge to the rotational driving section of the disk drive is projects to the back side.
The above-mentioned conventional arts 1 to 5 are disadvantageous in that a cartridge collides always with the insertion opening of the disk drive during initial attaching operation to the disk drive when the cartridge is inserted in erroneous direction because the cartridge is formed approximately square though the attaching direction is indicated with an arrow on the cartridge and the cartridge formed of black resin on which the arrow indication is formed of merely concavoconvex makes it difficult to distinguish the arrow indication, and in that the cartridge itself can not be thinned because a guide groove is provided on the front side or back side of the cartridge.
The above-mentioned conventional example 6 is also disadvantageous as the above-mentioned examples 1 to 5 because the cartridge is formed approximately square as a whole, and has a projected guide on the back side.
Accordingly, cartridges of the conventional examples 1 to 6 involve a functional and configurational problem to be solved in order to realize a thin cartridge which is attached not erroneously.
Further, the above-mentioned conventional arts 1 to 5 are disadvantageous in that a cartridge can not be made thin as a whole because a space for attaching the door and for operation of the door is necessary due to positioning of the two pins disposed vertically with a certain interval in the door attaching mechanism and due to application of the finger mechanism in the door moving mechanism, and in that dust and soil coming from the outside are apt to contaminate the inside because much air can flow into the interior due to one side being opened entirely and the structure that the center core of a disk is exposed. Such dust and soil which have penetrated into the interior can cause damage of a disk contained therein.
The above-mentioned conventional example 6 is also disadvantageous in that dust can cause damage of a disk provided in the interior because dust is apt to be accumulated at the corner due to the always opened circular arc door disposed near the corner on the side and the accumulated dust comes in when the inside door is opened for use.
Accordingly, the conventional examples 1 to 6 involve a problem to be solved in order to eliminate the problem associated with dust which comes from the outside and realize a cartridge with improved dust proof.
Further, the above-mentioned conventional arts 1 to 5 are disadvantageous in that a cartridge can not be made thin because the door has a structure which opens in the front side, and the large number of needed parts of the door attaching mechanism and door moving mechanism such as pin or finger is necessary, and in that workability in manufacturing process of the disk cartridge is significantly inefficient because the attaching direction of such mechanisms is quite different from the attaching direction of top section and bottom section which are components of the housing, and the separate attaching work is necessary.
The above-mentioned conventional example 6 is also disadvantageous in that a cartridge can not be made thin because the door attaching mechanism and door moving mechanism comprise the large number of needed parts such as the door, spacer, link, and spring, and in that manufacturing process of disk cartridges is very complex and workability is inefficient, which lead to high cost, particularly because the attaching direction of the door moving mechanism is quite different from the attaching direction of the top and bottom sections which are component of the housing, and the door moving mechanism should be attached in the separate attaching process including the door attaching mechanism.
The above-mentioned conventional example requires a cartridge screw for moving vertically a disk contained in the cartridge and a holding ring, these parts make the cartridge more difficult to be made more thin, and also these parts requires difficult attaching work. Such conditions make the manufacturing process of disk cartridges more difficult.
Accordingly, the conventional examples 1 to 6 involve problems to be solved in order to realize a thin disk cartridge comprising the reduced number of needed parts which are manufactured with improved workability.
To solve the problem of the above-mentioned conventional examples, the removable disk cartridge in accordance with the present invention contains rotatably a disk in a case comprising the combined top shell and bottom shell, the disk is driven from the outside, wherein the front end of the disk cartridge is formed in curvature, the curvature is asymmetrical in right-left direction with respect to the center line along the insertion direction of the cartridge, and an opening which is opened by the shutter member is provided on a part of the curvature.
The removable disk cartridge in accordance with the present invention has additional structure that the length of the opening is shorter than 1/2 the length of the curvature, a guide groove is provided at least on one side, the guide groove is formed with varying the depth and width, and a member for opening and closing the shutter member is provided in the guide groove, and a changer grip means is provided on both sides.
The front end of the removable disk cartridge of the present invention is formed asymmetrically with respect to the center line along the insertion direction. Therefore the insertion direction can be recognized naturally with reference to the configuration of the disk cartridge without providing an arrow indication for indicating the insertion direction, thus erroneous insertion is prevented. The curvature of the front end is formed in asymmetry in right-left direction with respect to the center line along the insertion direction of the cartridge and the length of both sides is different from each other. Therefore, when the cartridge is inserted erroneously inside out, the cartridge stops and does not proceed further during insertion because the insertion length of both sides is different from each other, and the erroneous insertion can be recognized because the projected length is too long when the cartridge is stopped.
The removable disk cartridge in accordance with the present invention has further additional structure that the center core of the disk is supported at least on three points on the one shell, the shutter member comprises a plate-like flat plate section and a circular arc shutter section formed in the direction perpendicular to the end of the flat plate section, the flat plate section of the shutter member is formed in a long delta shape as a whole, the length of the flat plate section is formed with a length so as to be contained in the interior of the disk cartridge, and the flat plate section is provided with a groove hole in order to avoid three point supporting of the disk, the shutter member is provided in the inside of the cartridge and supported on a shaft rotatably at the position near the rear end, a cutoff is provided at the position corresponding to the chuck hole in order to expose the center core of the disk outside when the shutter is opened, and a guide groove is provided at least on one side, the guide groove is formed varying in the width and depth, and a member for opening and closing the shutter member is positioned in the guide groove.
The removable disk cartridge of the present invention has the structure that the front end is formed in curvature and an opening is provided on the curvature, and a shutter member is provided along the curvature, thereby differently from the conventional door which moves vertically. So that the opening is maintained closed and there is no partial opened portion, dust is significantly prevented from penetrating, and damage of a disk is prevented.
The shutter member also opens and closes a hole for driving a disk, thereby the disk cartridge is closed when not in use, and dust is prevented from penetrating thereinto.
To solve the problem of the conventional examples, the method for manufacturing removable cartridges in accordance with the present invention comprises a series of steps including a step for forming the top shell and the bottom shell having a curvature at least on one side in asymmetry, a step for incorporating and combining a shutter member, a pressing means, a disk, and the top shell to the bottom shell from one direction, and a step for severely combining the bottom shell and the top shell.
In the method for manufacturing removable disk cartridges in accordance with the present invention, needed parts such as a shutter member, a disk, and a top shell are merely incorporated onto a bottom shell using the bottom shell as a base for assembling, the number of needed parts is reduced and all the needed parts are incorporated from one direction in the assembling work, working efficiency is thus significantly improved.
The top shell and bottom shell are temporarily combined automatically when the top shell is incorporated, and incorporated parts are not scattered even if the cartridge is turned inside out during combining work.